634 



The Living Animals of the World 



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[Chaaanj La,ic, W.C 



SPOTTED WRASSE. 

 On account of their greatly thickened lij^s wrasses are also known as Lip-fishes, 



of stinging-darts which proceed 

 therefrom as a result of the 

 shock, and, rendered insensible, 

 becomes the spoil of both. 

 Thus the active fish plays the 

 part of a lure, and in return 

 is afforded shelter. 



The Wrasses proper may 

 be distinguished, amongst other 

 things, by their thickened lijjs 

 — hence the name Lip-fishes 

 given them by German 

 naturalists — by the greatly ex- 

 tended back-fin, the greater 

 part of which is spinous, and 

 the arrangement of the teeth, 

 which need not be discussed here. They are shore-fishes, living in the neighbourhood of weed- 

 covered rocks, or in tropical seas, where they are most abundant, amid coral-reefs. Most are 

 brihiantly, many gaudily coloured, iridescent hues frequently adding to the beauty formed 

 by the permanent deposit of coloured pigments in the scales. Some grow to a large size, 

 specimens not seldom exceeding a weight of 50 lbs., and these are the most esteemed as 

 food-fishes, the smaller species, as a rule, being regarded as of inferior quality. 



A well-known British species is the Striped or Red Wrasse, the sexes of which exhibit 

 a remarkable variation in colour, the male having the Iwdy marked with blue streaks or 

 a blackish band, whilst the female has two or three large black blotches across the tail. A 

 second British species, the Ballan Wrasse, is bluish green in colour, with the scales and 

 fin-rays reddish orange. It may be found hiding in the deep gullies among rocks, sheltering 

 in the dense clusters of seaweed, and feeding on crabs and shrimps. It takes a bait freely, 

 and fishermen have remarked that at first the}' catch few laut large fisli ; some days later a 

 great number may l)e caught, but all will be of small size, indicating that the larger fish 

 assume the dominion of a district and keep the smaller at bay. 



Amongst the most brilliantly coloured of the wrasses are the Parrot-fish. ]Mr. Saville- 

 Kent, writing of the sjiiecies which inhabit the waters of the Great Barrier Eeef of Australia, 

 remarks that to stand up to your knees or higlier in water, with such a shoal of magnificent 

 fishes swimming round you, is an experience well worth a journey to the tropics. The coloration 

 of these fishes, which is extremely transient, fading almost immediately after death, nearly 



defies description. One of 

 the most beautiful is perhaps 

 the Gold-finned Coral-fish, 

 in which the body is of an 

 intense ultramarine, whilst 

 the fins are bright golden. 

 Others have the most amaz- 

 ing combinations of green, 

 vermilion, blue, and yellow, 

 in endless variety. It was one 

 of the fjarrot-fishes which 

 found such favour with the 

 ancients. " In the time of 

 Pliny," writes Dr. Giinther, 

 "it was considered to be the 

 first of fishes , . . and the 



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[Ml(ford-on-Sr.a. 



SATIN PAEHOT-FISn. 



The Parrot-fishes, or Parrot-wrasses, are 



called on account of the peculiar structure of the teeth 

 in the front of the jaws, which form a sharp-edged beak. 



